Arab winter of discontent

President Obama cannot escape responsibility for what happened at the U.S. Consulate in Benghazi. Despite the precarious conditions in Libya — an unstable central government, militias operating as local authorities, the proliferation of weapons, and the persistent influence of al-Qaida — the Obama administration failed to provide sufficient protection for American diplomatic personnel. As a result, U.S. Ambassador Chris Stevens and three other Americans were killed in a mob attack.

The Benghazi atrocity was preceded by assaults on the U.S. embassies in Egypt, Tunisia and Yemen. In subsequent days, dozens of U.S. and Western diplomatic outposts, institutions and properties were destroyed by frenzied throngs throughout the region and beyond. The violent unrest underscores the woeful instability of Middle East countries where the much-heralded “Arab Spring” was expected to bring freedoms that in the past had been suppressed by autocratic leaders. The movements that resulted in the overthrow of those autocrats, often with support from the United States, ended up creating the absence of authority. Worse yet, they empowered Islamist groups that are implacably hostile to the United States and the West.

President Obama made outreach to Muslims a pillar of his foreign policy early on. Shortly after taking office, he appeared before the Turkish parliament in Ankara and declared: “Let me say this as clearly as I can: The United States is not and never will be at war with Islam.” He made that statement even though radical Islam had declared war on United States with the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks.

He expanded his doctrine of contrition in Strasbourg, where he apologized for America’s “failure to appreciate Europe’s leading role in the world” and for the “times when America has shown arrogance and been dismissive, even derisive.” He spoke those words barely 500 miles from the beaches of Normandy, where thousands of U.S. troops gave their lives to save Europe from Nazi tyranny.

He attended a Latin American summit in Trinidad-Tobago, where he took verbal abuse from the likes of Daniel Ortega and Hugo Chavez, pledging that in the future the United States will be more sensitive to the region’s needs. He has made friendly overtures to Iran, hoping to persuade the anti-American regime to scale back its nuclear development program. Even though he has been rebuffed time and again, he now threatens Israel with “dire consequences” if it uses force to halt the nuclear threat.

Having made peace in the Middle East a top priority, Mr. Obama has been unable to get peace talks going. Appearing before the General Assembly of the United Nations, he called for Palestinian statehood within a year, declaring that Israel should retreat behind the pre-1967 borders. Those boundaries were established after Israel was forced to defend itself against numerically superior Arab forces determined to destroy the Jewish state.

It was the Obama administration’s misguided foreign policy that prepared the ground for the ominous Arab Spring which, in turn, spawned pro-Muslim governments and eventually led to anti-Western violence. It was all too predictable. I commented in a column, titled “Beware of Arab Spring,” that appeared a year ago: “How realistic is it to believe that, say, the Egyptian military is willing to give up power, the so-called rebels can produce democracy, the next regime in Libya will be less oppressive than the previous one or, for that matter, the rule of dictators will not be replaced by something even more sinister – such as the rule of militant Islam?”

Ostensibly, the current wave of anti-American hostilities was caused by a crudely made amateur video that denigrates Muslims and the Prophet Mohammed. A reality check is in order. Militant Islam has a long history of senseless violence that erupts at perceived grievances. British-Indian author Salman Rushdie spent years in hiding under a “fatwa” (death sentence) for his “blasphemous” novel, “The Satanic Verses.” In 2004, Theo van Gogh, a Dutch film director and producer, was assassinated for offending Muslims. A dozen drawings by Danish cartoonists in 2005, depicting the prophet, led to riots, bombing of the Danish embassy in Pakistan, and some 100 deaths. Alleged desecration of the Quran triggered mob violence time and again.

Violence in the name of Islam struck closer to home in 2009, when Major Nidal Hassan — shouting “Allah is great!” — killed 13 people, and wounded 31, at an Army base in Fort Hood, Texas. His trial has been repeatedly delayed because he has refused to shave a beard he has grown for religious reasons.

In 1979, demonstrators invaded the U. S. embassy in Tehran, took dozens of Americans hostage and held them for 444 days. It is widely believed that the crisis was responsible for bringing down the administration of Jimmy Carter, whose weak and touchy-feely foreign policy has been compared with that of President Obama. The hostages were released in January 1981, in the early days of Ronald Reagan who made a strong America the centerpiece of his presidency.

Rather than enhancing respect for the United States around the world, President Obama has eroded it. The devastation of our consulate in Benghazi, and the killing of the American ambassador, was a blatant attack on the United States, comparable to the hostage crisis in Tehran. Jimmy Carter paid the price for weakness in the White House. So should Barack Obama.

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